Apple iPad eats up a sixth of the PC market

THE APPLE IPAD accounted for one of every six PCs sold last quarter, according to research firm Canalys.

The company said that over the fourth quarter, Apple's tablet led the way in sales and, when combined with the Macintosh line, made the company the top vendor in the PC market ahead of HP. Canalys reported that on the quarter Apple pulled a 20 per cent share of the market, while HP weighed in at an 11.7 per cent share.

Tablets in general sold well, with shipments up 75 per cent over the previous quarter. Canalys estimates that one third of all PCs sold on the quarter were in fact tablet devices.

When tablets are separated from the traditional PCs, however, the sales picture becomes more grim. Canalys reported that laptop sales were flat on the quarter, while traditional PC heavyweights Dell and HP saw their market shares decline.

The figures are the latest in an ongoing decline for the notebook and desktop PC market at the hands of tablets. A number of industry research firms reported that PC market growth slowed or declined in 2012, while tablets continue to put up record sales numbers.

Not all vendors are reaping the benefits of the booming tablet market, however. Researchers noted that Windows RT tablets moved just 720,000 units, a three per cent share of the total market.

"The outlook for Windows RT appears bleak. Hardware OEMs are ignoring it due, in part, to a pricing strategy that does not align with the economics of the pad market," explained Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling.

"We expect Microsoft to rethink its pricing strategy for RT in the coming weeks. Dropping the price by 60 per cent should get OEMs back onside." µ